Save the Sharks

There is a small village nestled in thousands of
acres of coal mountains. Here the football players
are immortal and the foster kids swim like fish.
Read their remarkable story of ups and downs.

If you love children, they are like potato chips - once you have one,
you want another.

Robin and Mike Brzostowski found themselves a bit bummed out
when all three of their biological children: Mandy, Jessica, and
Sam, had grown, and moved on out.

“A friend told them they had empty nest syndrome, and convinced them to become foster care parents,” says their daughter Mandy Fantini of Locust Gap, PA.

Mandy explained that her parents had no intention to adopt, but just wanted to help children in some way.

“We are just an open and loving family, says Mandy, and things just have a way of working out certain way.”

Her parents quickly affiliated themselves with the Montour County Children and Youth organization - their lives have never been the same since.

Raising three children of their own was certainly no piece of cake for the Brzostowskis, however. With tons of love and family support to anchor every challenge, Mandy
declares her parents made it appear effortless, forming a family life and home that was just an endless pool of laughter and sweet moments.
But when the Brzostowski’s decided to become foster parents, Mandy says, friends of theirs thought they were out of their minds. “People said to them, you’re crazy, at
your age you should have a Ferrari,” says Mandy. They simply replied, ‘But we love these kids,’” says Mandy.

The Brzostowskis adopted Brooklyn when she was just three-years-old. “She is gorgeous; an over achiever, she can pick up anything and excel at it,” Mandy proudly
declares of her
littlest sister, now 16.

“The day I met Brooklyn she did a tumble-saw and said, ‘You and me are going to be best friends forever – I love you,’” Mandy remembers.

And despite the years between their ages, the two faith bonded sisters have been best friends ever since that day, she declares.

But long before Brooklyn’s arrival, the family love story began with a foster baby named Alexander.

“My mom literally was wheeled out of the hospital with him in her arms at just two days old,” says Mandy of her first adopted baby brother, now 12.

“My dad, a big guy who doesn’t cry much is standing there when I walk into his kitchen, and there he is with this baby in his arms listening to music and bawling his
eyes out. That was the moment my dad decided to adopt him, says Mandy. He was the most beautiful baby.”

One by one, the Brzostowskis went on to foster then adopt four more children after Alexander; three boys, and Brooklyn, their biological sister.

Elijah “Boo”, now 10, was adopted at only two-months-old. “He’s the comedian of the family, very out-going, has all the friends and loves to make up funny songs,”
says Mandy.

Before joining the Brzostowski family, Jeffrey, also 12, spent time in another foster home, but was soon reunited with his biological brother Dakota “Cody”, who is now
15.

“Cody is the lovable one; he can talk and listen to you for hours, says Mandy. Jeffrey is very mechanical; very smart and fixated on things. They’re all so different, but
amazing.”